The First Five Ico-Riffic Minutes Of Toren

While we continue to wait for another masterpiece from the makers of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, Brazilian developer Swordtales captures their spirit perfectly in the achingly beautiful Toren.

Nathan Grayson was right to call out the similarities between those classics and this strange and wonderful indie from a relatively unknown developer. Had I not seen Swordtales' name in the opening credits, I might have confused this for a game in the same series. The crushing sense of isolation, the sprawling architecture overrun with vegetation, the strange, alien language that guides our lonely heroine on her journey — it's all so very Team Ico.

Experience the mysterious, timeless world of Toren, the first adventure game from Brazilian indie developer Swordtales. You are Moonchild, destined to climb the tower (known as Toren) on a hauntingly solitary journey to find your purpose. You must solve puzzles and face monsters as you struggle to climb to the top of this beautiful, yet treacherous environment, driven by the will to find your freedom.

I'm a little bit in love with this game, and the more I play the more the feeling grows. Who needs The Last Guardian?

OK, we all need The Last Guardian, but in the meantime this is very nice.

Originally released on November 27th, 1998 in Japan, the Dreamcast was a shot at redemption after Sega's last console, the Saturn, had a less than stellar time competing with the Playstation and Nintendo 64. Something had to change in order for Sega to keep a horse in the console race. The Dreamcast had it all: incredibly powerful graphics, online capability through dial up, and a playful take on media. Hell, the memory card, also known as the Visual Memory Unit (or VMU) had a screen built into it. Sega was here to play and they did it wonderfully.